State A boys: Lewistown completes perfect season, ends drought with win over Dillon | Class A Boys Basketball

Earlier in the night, Dougie Peoples led No. 2-ranked Butte Central to a 66-48 win over Western A rival Frenchtown in the State A third-place game at the Fieldhouse for the Maroons’ third state trophy in four seasons.

One year ago, the Golden Eagles sat in Missoula trying to recover from one of the most devastating losses possible: Dougie Peoples hit a 3 as time expired to give Butte Central a 61-58 State A championship victory.

“For about three days, it lived in the back of our minds,” Lewistown star Fischer Brown said Saturday. “Honestly, it still lives in the back of our minds. It’s one we wish we all could get back.”

They can’t get it back, but they came about as close as any team can.

Lewistown opened this season with a 79-66 win over Butte Central. One day later, it earned a 69-60 win over Dillon, which boasts a Class A-record 10 state titles. Twenty-two games later, the Beavers of Beaverhead County High School faced the Eagles of Fergus High with a chance to become the first Montana basketball team to reach 11 state championships.

For 30 minutes, Dillon (18-7) was in great position to deliver. But the vengeful Eagles could not be denied.

“We walked into that first practice and said, ‘This year’s ours,'” Brown said. “‘We’re going to be willing to put in all those hours, all that time, going to have that mindset that this year’s ours, we can do this, we can accomplish this goal.’ It showed tonight.”

Dillon led 11-10 after one quarter — the second time all season Lewistown trailed entering the second quarter (Lockwood led 12-9 after the first quarter in a home game it lost to Lewistown 45-43 on Jan. 21). The Eagles looked like they’d go into halftime ahead, but Dillon’s Treyton Graham banked in a long 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded. 

The Beavers beat the buzzer again a quarter later; Kyler Engellant came up with a loose ball and drained a long 2-pointer to cut his team’s deficit to 36-33 entering the final eight minutes.

Dillon made it 39-39 in the last quarter, but the Eagles pulled away in the final minute and a half.

“(The Beavers are) just well-coached, great kids,” said Lewistown coach Scott Sparks, adding, “What a battle. We earned it.”

Brown scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth, and he led all players with 10 rebounds while shooting 7 of 16 from the field. All six of his made free throws (on eight attempts) came in fourth as well, most crucially with 1 minute, 33 seconds left, when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt. The 6-foot-5 junior put Lewistown ahead 49-44 following the foul shots, and it remained a two-possession game the rest of the way.

“It got close, Brown said. “Tied at half, we walked into that locker room, and Sparks and other guys, we just looked at each other and said, ‘You know what? We’re going to go get this.'”

Brown’s teammate Royce Robinson added 21 points (8 of 22 from the field), eight rebounds and five assists. The Carroll commit helped the Lewistown football team finish a 12-0 season with a State A championship in the fall.

“They’re both great. I can’t pick one over the other,” Robinson said of the football and basketball titles. “We’ve just got to thank our coaches and our parents, and thank the Lord because we really lucked out to have this opportunity.”

Robinson is one of four seniors on Lewistown’s roster. The other three are Avery Crouse, Matthew Golik and Gage Norslien.

“I kind of get emotional when I start talking about them. Royce, he’s going to go down as one of the best players in Fergus history,” Sparks said, adding, “I’m going to really miss him. And then Matthew, Gage and Avery are kids that came to practice every day and worked their tails off. Great kids too.

“I’ve known these kids since they were little. It’s never easy to say goodbye to your seniors, but I’m glad we get to go out like this.”

Engellant led the Beavers with 14 points (5 of 11), fellow sophomore Carter Curnow scored 11 (3 of 6) and Eli Nourse added eight points (3 of 9) and four assists.

Dillon had six seniors this season: Nourse, Treyton Graham, Caden Hansen, Tyler Lagunas, Parker Puyear and Damon Skradski. The Beavers will lose Terry Thomas, who is retiring after 17 seasons as head boys coach. Dillon won five state titles in Thomas’ tenure, and he knows how Lewistown feels: his 2007 and 2017 teams both finished undefeated.

“It’s been so special all along the way, to be able to work with such great coaches, and then you have the players and the community that supports you,” Thomas said. “It’s hard to think that it’s over after 42 years of coaching, but it was special. These kids did a great job of making it such a highlight. Even though we didn’t win it all, they certainly did exactly what we set out the year to do, which was to try to reach our potential.”

Sparks was 2 years old when Lewistown beat Glendive 65-55 in the State A title game (“I was trying to figure out what a basketball was at that point,” Sparks said with a laugh). Forty-four years later, he helped the Eagles bring the trophy back to Lewistown.

“What a long time coming for our community,” Sparks said. “Got so close last year, and we kind of had that monkey on our back all year. Boy, it feels good tonight.”

Dougie Peoples ended his storied high school career with a prolific performance in a commanding victory.

The 6-foot-5 senior scored a game-high 33 points, three of which came on a buzzer beater just inside of half court to end the third quarter.

“That was a cool moment,” Peoples said. “It was cool looking up and seeing all the Central fans cheering.”

Peoples made 10 of 19 field goals, 6 of 11 3-pointers and all seven of his free throw attempts.

Kyle Holter scored 10 points (4 of 8 from the filed), four assists, two steals and a one-handed dunk to begin the second half. Butte Central teammate Eric Loos added six points (2 of 5), six rebounds and two steals.

Butte Central led Saturday’s consolation final 16-12 after one quarter, 32-20 at halftime and 52-39 after three. The Maroons (23-2) finished 4-0 against the Broncs (16-9) this season.

“If we would’ve played like we did in that third-place game, I think we’d being playing in the (state title) game,” Peoples said. “We’re all happy that we ended on a win, but it’s definitely disappointing.”

Connor Michaud led Frenchtown with 25 points (8 of 16 on field goals, 5 of 9 on 3s) and eight rebounds, while Connor Anciaux added nine points (3 of 4 on field goals and 3s). Michaud and Anciaux were two of six seniors on Frenchtown’s roster (the others were Sully Bellcourt, Kellen Klimpel, Joshua Lucier and Carter White). The Broncs lost to Lewistown 62-35 on Friday in their first state semifinal game since 2006.

“Beyond proud of all of them,” said Frenchtown coach Brandon Robbins, adding, “Coming up short, it’s tough, but I think it wasn’t so much about losing the game. It was about how thankful we are for those kids and what they mean to our community, our school and younger kids and the program going forward.”

Butte Central’s seniors were Peoples, Holter, Loos, Riley Gelling and Konnor Pochervina. Peoples and Holter were on that 2020 co-championship roster, and they led the Maroons to a 49-3 record over the last two seasons. The three losses: 74-57 at Dillon in January 2022, 79-66 to Lewistown to begin this season and 62-53 to Dillon in Friday’s semifinals.

“These are really hard days,” said Butte Central coach Brodie Kelly. “When you’ve got dreams of winning a state championship and you’re not able to play for it, it takes a lot of character. The main message on our board today was, ‘Reveal your character. Let’s see who we are. There haven’t been a lot of times this season where you had to get up off the mat, in fact since game one.’

“It was hard today, but I’m really proud of these guys.”

Butte Central earned a combined seven wins over Dillon and Lewistown the last two seasons, most memorably in last year’s buzzer-beaten State A title game. 

“To do what he does with all the attention that he gets, the expectations that everyone has of him, to still be able to produce that, what an unbelievable player,” Kelly said. “So thankful to have been able to coach him and all those seniors.”

Peoples scored a game-high 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds, nabbed two steals and blocked two shots in Friday’s back-and-forth game. The left-hander made 4 of 11 field goals and 19 of 21 free throws.

Butte Central led 21-12 after one quarter and 37-24 at halftime at the Fieldhouse. The Rams won the third quarter 17-6, but the Maroons pulled away with a 26-16 fourth.

Eric Loos had 17 points (5 of 10 from the field) and eight rebounds, and Kyle Holter added 11 points (3 of 4) and six boards for the Maroons (22-2).

Kyler Northrop led Billings Central (16-9) with 17 points (6 of 14 on field goals, 5 of 11 on 3-pointers), Adam Balkenbush had 11 points (3 of 6, 3 of 5) and Jayden Sanchez dished out nine assists.

The Broncs stayed alive with a win in one of the most evenly played games of the season.

The score was 13-13 after one quarter, 19-19 at halftime, 33-32 in Glendive’s favor through three and 48-48 at the end of regulation at Gallatin High School.

Frenchtown’s Eli Quinn scored a game-high 21 points, Connor Michaud had 12 and Kellen Klimpel added eight.

Chase Crockett led Glendive (10-15) with 13 points, Michael Murphy had 10 and Levi Eaton added nine.